We strongly encourage our homeowners to leverage the Greener Homes Loans program to reduce the financial burden of home energy upgrades. Some homeowners use the funds to go a little further in upgrading their homes. You can visit the Greener Homes Loan website for more details.
Funding your upgrades
We have two example scenarios to illustrate the benefits of using the Greener Homes Loan. Scenario one is using the GH Loan rather than your own hard-earned savings. Scenario two is using the GH Loan rather than alternate financing.
This does not constitute financial advice, please seek input from your financial advisor.
Scenario #1 – GH Loan instead of your savings.
If you’re planning upgrades funded by your own savings, consider funding your upgrades through the Greener Homes loan.
As an example, if you’re planning on installing a $15,000 heatpump, you can leverage the interest free loan and invest your own money. You will be able to earn money on your investment while paying off your loan.
Your return on a 5% investment on $15,000 is more than $9,000 over those same ten years. (Even if you payoff your Greener Homes loan by drawing-down your investment, our calculations show that you’ll still earn over $4,500 over those ten years.)
Scenario #2 – GH Loan instead of another loan.
A loan with no interest rather than a loan with interest on is clearly the best approach, but how much better?
A loan calculator shows that a ten-year $15,000 loan at, say, 5% will incur over $4,000 in interest charges. If you’re looking for it, that really extends the duration of the ‘payback’ for your upgrade.
In this scenario, the Greener Homes Loan will save you over $4,000. And we haven’t even talked about the energy savings…
And don’t forget about the energy savings!
These numbers don’t include the savings from the energy upgrades themselves! While a heatpump can have a huge impact on your household bills, the size of that impact is dependent upon your home. A simpler example is solar panels….
Investing $15,000 in solar panels could – location and orientation dependent – save you around $750 per year on your hydro bills. (This assumes an ~ 6kW array generating 6,500 kWh per year.) That’s enough to cover more than half of your GH Loan repayments!
Why do we care how you fund your upgrades? It’s simple: better financing puts more upgrades within reach of more people which in turn leads to improved energy efficiency and lower emissions across our housing stock. That’s what we care about.
Our Energy Blueprint
Our Home Energy Assessments
Our assessments evaluate all aspects of your home’s heat loss (or heat gain in the summer) and its energy consumption.
Building envelope
Mechanicals
Putting it together
Upgrades
Our assessments evaluate all aspects of your home’s heat loss (or heat gain in the summer) and its energy consumption.
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